The Tactical Supply Wing (TSW) is a helicopter support unit of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, based at

MOD Stafford Ministry of Defence Stafford otherwise known as MOD Stafford, Stafford Station or Beacon Barracks is a Ministry of Defence site in Stafford, in England. It was formerly Royal Air Force Stafford or more simply RAF Stafford, a non-flying Royal Air ...

(also known as Beacon Barracks) in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. The wing specialises in the refuelling of helicopters in the field.

History

The Tactical Supply Wing concept was devised by

Group Captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

Craven-Griffiths, who developed the idea during his time at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

in London during the late 1960s. Griffiths and colleagues spent many hours discussing the concept in The Old Shades public house, located on

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

. Ever since, the Old Shades has been considered as the birthplace of the TSW. The TSW, nicknamed "Tiswas" (a word meaning "a state of nervous agitation or confusion ... physical disorder or chaos", attested from 1960 by the OED), was formed at RAF Stafford in late 1970 and became operational in January 1971. TSW was sent on its first operational deployment to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in 1971. Elements of TSW have deployed around the world to support British and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

helicopter units in most major exercises and conflicts since it was formed.

Role and operations

TSW's primary role is supporting the

deployment Deployment may refer to: * Military deployment, the movement of armed forces and their logistical support * Software deployment, all of the activities that make a software system available for use * System deployment The deployment of a mecha ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

operations, specialising in providing rotors-turning refuelling to helicopters and field refuelling of fixed-wing aircraft; this can done from the back of a

transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes: * Airliners, aircraft, usually large and most often operated by airlines, intended for carrying multiple passengers or cargo in commercial service * Cargo aircraft or freighters, fix ...

, or deploy-able storage facilities, such as bowsers or pillow tanks, often in the field or at austere temporary sites. The unit is still at Stafford, but the base is now called Beacon Barracks. It also houses 22 Signal Regiment and 16 Signal Regiment.

Heritage

The wing's

badge A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fir ...

, awarded in March 1992, features a

Peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

in a flying position, against a background of a three-arched bridge and a body of water. The aggressive falcon with its wings fully extended resonates with a “Supply Wing” whereas the bridge represents communication and is portrayed with three arches, which is a reference to three RAF commands and all three services of the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...

. The wing's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

is ''Support to Strike'', acknowledging its support role which supports combat operations.

References

Royal Air Force wings Military units and formations established in 1970 {{RAF-stub